New Evangelization Council Plans "Metropolis Mission"

Called an Initial Response to the Pope's Request

July 14, 2011
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VATICAN CITY, JULY 14, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization gathered 11 European prelates at the Vatican on Monday, and the result of their discussions is a plan called "Metropolis Mission."

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella announced the plan on Vatican Radio this Tuesday. The mission will begin next Lent.

"This is an initial response to the request made by the Pope during our first plenary meeting, to overcome division and to show signs of unity," said the archbishop.

The fledgling dicastery has spent its first year filling its leadership posts and making initial plans, particularly leading up to the forthcoming synod on the new evangelization.

Metropolis Mission is its first major project and it has two phases. First, an emphasis on ordinary pastoral care activities particularly in the field of formation, and second, during Lent 2012, the simultaneous implementation of activities in Barcelona, Budapest, Brussels, Dublin, Cologne, Lisbon, Liverpool, Paris, Turin, Vienna and Warsaw.

Archbishop Fisichella explained, "The Metropolis Mission should be a concrete message sent by the great cities -- the great dioceses -- of Europe to the synod of bishops of 2012, which has new evangelization as its theme."